AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 vs NVIDIA Tesla T4 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive performance advantage for the AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 across both benchmark tests in the database. In Geekbench OpenCL, the MI60 scores 92,488 against the NVIDIA Tesla T4’s 61,276, a delta of 50.9% in favor of the AMD part. This is a substantial margin that places the MI60 in a different performance tier altogether, as the T4 trails by more than half of its own score in this workload.

The gap narrows somewhat in Geekbench Vulkan, where the MI60 records 92,444 and the T4 reaches 72,190. Even here, the AMD accelerator remains ahead by 28.1%, a comfortable lead that underscores its raw compute superiority in API-level benchmarks. The T4’s Vulkan result is notably stronger than its OpenCL showing, suggesting that the NVIDIA architecture responds better to Vulkan’s execution model, but it still cannot close the overall performance gap.

Looking at the broader database context, the MI60’s average benchmark score of 92,466 places it at the 93rd percentile of all GPUs, while the T4’s average of 66,733 sits at the 90th percentile. This percentile data is revealing: both cards are high performers relative to the entire GPU landscape, but the MI60’s placement is driven by a much higher absolute score. The T4’s 90th percentile reflects the fact that many GPUs score far lower than either card, not that the T4 competes with the MI60 directly.

The nearest rivals for each card further illuminate the competitive landscape. The MI60’s closest competitor in the database is the NVIDIA RTX A4500, which averages 91,671, just 0.9% behind the MI60. The AMD Radeon Pro VII sits 4.8% ahead at 97,131, and the Radeon RX 7900M leads by 5.2% at 97,487. For the T4, the AMD Radeon VII is the nearest rival at 66,004, a 1.1% edge for the T4, while the NVIDIA Tesla P40 trails by 2.5% at 65,095. The MI25 is 2.7% ahead at 68,562, and the Intel Arc A770 leads by 3.0% at 68,809.

These rival comparisons show that the MI60 competes with professional workstation cards like the RTX A4500, while the T4 sits closer to consumer and older datacenter parts like the Radeon VII and Tesla P40. The head-to-head results therefore reflect a fundamental class difference: the MI60 is a high-end compute accelerator, whereas the T4 is a lower-power, more efficiency-focused solution. The win count is 2 for the MI60 and 0 for the T4 across the two recorded tests, with no benchmark in the database showing a T4 advantage.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 wins decisively in both recorded benchmark categories, so the use-case split must be inferred from the nature of the tests and the architectural data rather than from any T4 victory. In OpenCL workloads, which often reflect general-purpose compute including scientific simulations, data processing, and rendering tasks, the MI60’s 50.9% lead is the strongest argument for choosing it in compute-heavy environments. The T4’s OpenCL score of 61,276 is its weaker result, suggesting that NVIDIA’s Turing architecture does not extract its full potential from this API in this particular implementation.

For Vulkan-based applications, which include modern game engines and some compute workloads, the MI60 again takes the win, but the smaller 28.1% margin indicates that the T4 is comparatively better optimized for Vulkan. The T4’s Vulkan score of 72,190 is 17.8% higher than its OpenCL score, a significant improvement that highlights Turing’s strengths in newer, lower-level APIs. The MI60’s scores are nearly identical across both tests (92,488 vs 92,444), showing a consistent performance profile regardless of API choice.

Given the T4’s zero wins, the database offers no direct evidence of a workload where the T4 outperforms the MI60. However, the T4’s specifications point to areas where it may be preferable in practice, even if those advantages do not appear in these two benchmarks. The T4 has a dramatically lower TDP of 70 W versus 300 W for the MI60, and it requires no external power connectors, drawing all power from the PCIe slot. This makes the T4 suitable for dense server deployments where power and thermal limits are strict, and where the MI60’s dual-slot footprint and 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin connector requirement would be problematic.

The T4 also includes 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, which are entirely absent from the MI60’s specification sheet. These specialized units are designed for ray tracing and AI inference respectively, though the database does not include benchmarks that directly test them. In inference-heavy environments with frameworks that leverage tensor cores, the T4 could be the more appropriate choice despite its lower raw FP32 performance.

Architecture Differences

The two accelerators represent fundamentally different design philosophies from their respective manufacturers. The AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 is built on the Vega 20 chip using the GCN 5.1 architecture, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. The NVIDIA Tesla T4 uses the TU104 chip with the Turing architecture, also from TSMC but on a 12 nm process. The process node difference is significant: 7 nm versus 12 nm explains part of why the MI60 achieves higher performance while maintaining a reasonable power envelope relative to its transistor count.

Transistor counts are remarkably close between the two chips. The MI60 packs 13,230 million transistors on a 331 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 40.0 million per square millimeter. The T4 has 13,600 million transistors on a much larger 545 mm² die, producing a density of just 25.0 million per square millimeter. The MI60’s smaller die with comparable transistor count demonstrates the density advantage of the newer process node, though the T4’s larger die allows for different functional blocks.

Memory subsystems diverge completely. The MI60 features 32 GB of HBM2 memory on a 4096-bit bus, delivering 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth. The T4 offers 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, with 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The MI60’s bandwidth advantage is more than threefold, which is critical for memory-bound compute workloads such as large matrix operations or data-intensive simulations. The T4’s smaller memory pool and narrower bus reflect its lower-power design target and its focus on inference rather than training or HPC.

Compute resources also differ substantially. The MI60 has 4,096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. The T4 has 2,560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The MI60’s pixel rate is 115.2 GPixel/s versus 101.8 GPixel/s for the T4, and its texture rate is 460.8 GTexel/s versus 254.4 GTexel/s. In FP32 compute, the MI60 delivers 14.75 TFLOPS against the T4’s 8.141 TFLOPS, and in FP16 the MI60 reaches 29.49 TFLOPS versus 16.28 TFLOPS, both at 2:1 ratios.

Clock speeds tell a related story. The MI60 runs at a base clock of 1200 MHz and boosts to 1800 MHz, while the T4 operates at a much lower base of 585 MHz but boosts to 1590 MHz. The T4’s low base clock and 70 W TDP indicate aggressive power management, whereas the MI60 maintains higher clocks across its 300 W envelope. The T4’s memory runs at 1250 MHz with 10 Gbps effective speed, while the MI60’s HBM2 runs at 1000 MHz with 2 Gbps effective speed, though the vastly wider bus makes the MI60’s bandwidth far superior.

The T4 includes features that the MI60 lacks: 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores. The MI60 has no corresponding hardware for ray tracing or tensor operations. The T4 also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the MI60 supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3. Both support OpenGL 4.6. The T4 has no display outputs, while the MI60 includes one mini-DisplayPort 1.4a. The T4 is a single-slot card with no power connectors and a 250 W suggested PSU, while the MI60 is dual-slot with two power connectors and a 700 W suggested PSU.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear choice for raw compute performance: the AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 dominates the NVIDIA Tesla T4 in both recorded benchmarks, with a 50.9% lead in OpenCL and a 28.1% lead in Vulkan. For any workload that relies on FP32 or FP16 compute, large memory capacity, or high memory bandwidth, the MI60 is the superior accelerator according to the database. Its 32 GB of HBM2 memory at 1.02 TB/s dwarfs the T4’s 16 GB of GDDR6 at 320 GB/s, and its 14.75 TFLOPS FP32 performance is nearly double the T4’s 8.141 TFLOPS.

However, the T4 is not without its own rationale. Its 70 W TDP and single-slot design, with no external power connectors, make it far easier to deploy in dense, power-constrained server environments. The MI60’s 300 W TDP and dual-slot footprint require more substantial power delivery and cooling infrastructure. The T4’s tensor cores and RT cores provide specialized capabilities that the MI60 does not offer, even though the database does not include benchmarks for these features.

For buyers prioritizing maximum compute throughput in a workstation or server that can accommodate the power and space requirements, the MI60 is the clear pick based on the recorded data. For those needing low-power inference acceleration or deployment in space-constrained racks, the T4’s architectural features and efficiency make it a viable alternative, though its benchmark scores are materially lower. The MI60 sits at the 93rd percentile of all GPUs, while the T4 is at the 90th, and the absolute score difference of 25,733 points between their averages is decisive.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 has an average benchmark score of 92,466, while the NVIDIA Tesla T4 averages 66,733.

Q: How much faster is the MI60 in OpenCL?

A: The MI60 scores 92,488 versus 61,276 for the T4, a delta of 50.9% in favor of the AMD card.

Q: Does the Tesla T4 win any benchmark tests?

A: No, the database records 2 wins for the MI60 and 0 wins for the T4 across the Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan tests.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The MI60 has 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth from 32 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, while the T4 has 320.0 GB/s from 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus.

Q: Which card has tensor cores?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla T4 has 320 tensor cores and 40 RT cores; the AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 has neither.

Q: What are the power consumption figures?

A: The MI60 has a TDP of 300 W with a suggested PSU of 700 W, while the T4 has a TDP of 70 W with a suggested PSU of 250 W.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 | NVIDIA Tesla T4 |

| --- | --- | --- |

| Chip | Vega 20 | TU104 |

| Architecture | GCN 5.1 | Turing |

| Process Node | 7 nm | 12 nm |

| Transistors | 13,230 million | 13,600 million |

| Die Size | 331 mm² | 545 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 40.0M / mm² | 25.0M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1200 MHz | 585 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1800 MHz | 1590 MHz |

| Memory Size | 32 GB | 16 GB |

| Memory Type | HBM2 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus Width | 4096 bit | 256 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 1.02 TB/s | 320.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 4096 | 2560 |

| TMUs | 256 | 160 |

| ROPs | 64 | 64 |

| RT Cores | None | 40 |

| Tensor Cores | None | 320 |

| Pixel Rate | 115.2 GPixel/s | 101.8 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 460.8 GTexel/s | 254.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 14.75 TFLOPS | 8.141 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 29.49 TFLOPS (2:1) | 16.28 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 300 W | 70 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | Single-slot |

| Power Connectors | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin | None |

| Suggested PSU | 700 W | 250 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | 1x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a | No outputs |

| DirectX Support | 12 (12_1) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.3 | 1.4 |

| Release Date | 2018-11-17 | 2018-09-12 |

| Predecessor | FirePro Data Center | Tesla Volta |

| Successor | None | Server Ampere |

| Production Status | End-of-life | End-of-life |